The above is my inspiration garden.  I love everything about it from the brick pathways to the separate sections and the awesome garden shed.  Plus the octagon shape middle with the planter.

Another inspiration is blue Hydrangas and an arch gate with climbing roses.  Just so old fashioned and just elegant.  They never go out of style.

 

I think that climbing roses are just beautiful.

I love window boxes also.  The way the roses climb onto roofs is mostly where they get a lot of salt air and are near the ocean I think.  But I just love the way they look.

 

 

I love Geraniums this time of year.  They blossom all summer and are just beautiful.

I found the above recipe that making the Geraniums bloom.

I love the idea of an afternoon tea party.  I saw the above for inspirations on what to have.  I like the tea sandwiches, the sponge cake and fancy little tidbits.

Having a tea party out in a flower garden setting is the utmost inspiration.  I love the round table and the pretty tablecloth.  Also the pretty tea set and the white chairs.

I love the idea of a sponge cake.  It’s so Victorian and just elegant.  I pinned several recipes for sponge cake on my cake board on my Pinterest.

Strawberries just add to the elegance.  I love it when the local strawberries are available.  It’s usually only for a few weeks.

Fancy cupcakes and macarons are always neat inspirations.

I love the Royal Dalton tea set patterns.  So very beautiful.

I think that it would be really fun to go to a Tea House and have afternoon tea, also.

I really like the above inspiration for a patio.

I would love to have an apple tree that had blossoms in the Spring.  Just the ultimate.

Another inspiration is the arched gate and beautiful tulips that adorn each side of the gate in the Spring.

The ultimate summer inspiration is to visit Nantucket Island which is 30 miles out to sea.  The above shows Brandt Lighthouse that you see when you come into the island by the Ferry.  I love the grey cedar shingles on all the houses.  The salt air makes the Nantucket grey color.

I like the bench and the hooks to hang hats, shopping bags and things right by the door.  I would just put a cushion on the bench.

And that is my inspirations for the end of May.

 

 

I love the color of new Spring leaves on the trees.  The above is a route that I take when I go grocery shopping.  It goes along the Connecticut River and just pretty views all along the way.  I like to go shopping in New Hampshire.  For an example, I save around 11 cents a gallon on gas for my car.  Everything in New Hampshire is tax free where as Vermont is all about taxes.  Plus everything in groceries is on the average a dollar less then Vermont prices.  We live right across the river from New Hampshire.  The Connecticut River separates New Hampshire from Vermont.  I could go up the interstate and cross over, but I like the old route 5 on the Vermont side and sometimes I cross over and go on rt 12 on the NH side.

The apple blossoms are out now and just so beautiful.  I took the above photo on Mothers Day last Sunday.

I happened to stop into TJ Max and saw the above napkins and I just had to buy them.  So Spring like and they look really nice in my napkin holder.

I just had a craving for pizza yesterday.  I don’t need the carbs from the crust so I happened to see a cauliflower crust pizza in the frozen foods.  The crust is made from riced cauliflower and eggs hold it together along with brown rice flour and yeast.  It was just like regular pizza crust.  Probably almost as fattening, but I had to try it and it was really good.

I sliced up a mushroom and some red onion to put over it to add a little something-something plus sea salt and fresh ground pepper and a little olive oil.  Then I put some shaved parmesan over it.  I used my Le Creuset oval caslerole dish to bake it in and it fit perfect for half the pizza.  I saved the other half in the freezer for another day.  I didn’t feel guilty for having pizza, anyways.  And it was good with a salad made with power greens and a nice glass of white wine.

I like those little 15 oz Le Creuset stoneware caserole dishes.  They are just right for individual Shephards pies or macaroni and cheese.

They also have a 15 oz round stoneware Le Creuset.  The 8 oz cocotte that they have is way too small.  But the 15 oz cocotte is really hard to find.  They sold out on HSN except for the flame color.  I guess some are on wait list.  They look just like the regular Le Cruesets only in stoneware and the cocotte size.  I like the Provence color for Spring.  They are also fun to use as soup bowls.

I need to get my hair cut and I like the above length and also the way it has like beach waves.  I don’t like the middle part, but I like a side part with the bangs on both sides just a little below or right to the cheek bones.

For fashion finds, it looks like those cape like tops that kind of drape down are in style this Spring.  And flower material seems to be in.

I got the 3 week yoga retreat DVDs.  Even with blocks to help, it definitely is not for beginner yoga.  I struggled with it and got through 4 days.  It got a little easier as I went along.  Very little easier.

I saw the above yoga outfit that might be fun to have.  I like the grey leggings and the cute halter top along with the over top.  I have some cute yoga outfits to make the yoga tolerable.  Plus I have a nice yoga mat, blocks and a stretch band.  The yoga retreat comes with a recipe book and you are supposed to do clean eating and a half hour of yoga 5 days and then weekends a little less.  Not fun in my opinion.  I’ve had to start over twice now.  It’s all about breathing and all kinds of core, stretch, flow stuff.  I’d really rather go for walks and do pilates with my Malibu Pilatis chair or use my stretch DVD if I have to do a half hour of exercise every day.  But I will try and do the 3 weeks.  The first instructor for the first week is horrible in my opinion.  Even if you use blocks.

I saw a recipe for a Coconut Chai Smoothie that sounded good.  It has a cup of chai tea, cooled, 1 ripe banana, 1 cup vanilla coconut milk and 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt.  Then it has 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper and ice and blended in a blender.

It had CocoWhip and toasted coconut to garnish.  I would just use Coolwhip myself.

I bought myself a “binto-box” like the above.  Mine is green.  I love it to pack a little lunch for this summer to go to the beach.  Neat to put in a cooler.

 

On Lake Champlain up in Burlington, you can go on a sunset cruise in a sail boat.  Sounds very romantic to me and also quite an adventure.

They also have a day cruise and you can see the mountains of New York on the other side of the lake.

Wow, sure looks like fun to me.

Sometimes groups go on the cruise and have a party.

Have you seen how Meghan Markle made Barefoot Contessa’s Engagement Chicken the day Prince Harry proposed to her?  I put the recipe in my Barefoot Contessa board on my Pinterest.  It must be really good roast chicken.  It looks like it has potatoes and carots roasting with it, but on the recipe I saw they were sides.  There must be more versions of the recipe.

What a neat idea to have smoothies all prepped and in the freezer.    Just throw them in a blender with a base.

Well, that is my inspirations for today.  Beautiful day here with temps in the 70’s.  The lilacs are also starting to come out.  Love it.

 

King Arthur Flour in Norwich has a really neat idea for Mothers Day.  It’s called Mothers Day Retreat with Farmhouse Pottery.  It says that it’s the sweetest way to bond.  You treat your mother to a day of artisan crafts and delicious food.  You start the day off at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, where you’ll learn to make a fruit tart (in an exclusive farmhouse Pottery heart-shaped dish).  Then you enjoy a catered lunch at King Arthur Flur before heading to Woodstock for the afternoon to learn the old world craft of wheel throwing from the experts.  You’ll make your very own Farmhouse Pottery vase – perfect for showcasing spring blooms.   I love it!

I think that the recipe that they use is Cherry Crostata because I found that recipe on the Farmhouse Pottery website.  I pinned it on my Pie board on my Pinterest.  I don’t have a Mom anymore and the retreat is out of my price range.   But I love that tart idea and it looks super simple to make.  I don’t know how they could make a vase in one afternoon because I think it has to be dried for a couple of days and everything, but I don’t know.  I would rather just buy one at their Woodstock pottery place myself.  They use a special clay and they have a half wreath insigna that goes on it.  I just love their pottery.  As far as I can figure, that tart dish is their 5 inch candy dish that is heart shaped.  It costs $52.00 on their website.

Farmhouse Pottery in Woodstock is just awesome.

But I just love everything King Arthur Flour does.  I love that place.

I love banana bread and King Arthur Flour has Whole-Grain Banana Bread as their 2018 Recipe of the Year.   They have the recipe on their website and they have ideas on how to make the recipe your own by adding and substituting ingredients.  You choose from their ideas and then the recipe is fixed for perfect measurements for what you choose to make the recipe come out perfect for you.   Then when you print it out, it has a title of “My Banana Bread”.   I love it.

My sister used to make banana bread from the recipe on Bisquick.  It had walnuts in it and was moist and just really good.  I put that recipe on my breads board on my Pinterest.

One of my favorite fashion bloggers had the above dress to wear for a Spring wedding.   I think it would be nice to wear for Mothers Day also.  I like the style of it.

She wore the above necklace with the dress.

And she used the above purse.  So Spring like and in fashion.

The dress also came in a sea green color which is so cute.

I like Macarons.  Can you imagine Strawberry-Champagne Macarons?  Yum!  Actually any kind of Macaron is just a treat.

I like the Pioneer Woman new Spring line of dinnerware at the Walmart.  It’s affordable and so cute.

I like the pasta bowl, also.  It’s perfect for salads as well as pasta.

I have Pioneer Woman’s jars in my pantry.  I put them on a lazy susan and put different kinds of nuts in them.  I have walnuts, almonds, California blend and sunflower seeds.  The jars are inexpensive and just look so cute.

I have a neat pantry, but nothing compared to the above pantry.  I love the wine cooler, the neat handles on the drawers, the warming oven and the neat coffee maker that makes lattes.  And the white cabinets and subway backsplash.  Plus the hardwood floor.  The shelves on three sides with room for everything.  Totally awesome.

I have a beautiful bike and there is a bike trail near where I live that goes along the river.  I have to start riding the bike more now that the weather has finally stopped snowing.  Unbelievable winter we had this year.  Tomorrow is supposed to be 80 degrees.  It could snow the day after in this area.   You never know.

Anyways it’s a nice day today.  Hope you are enjoying your day.